Sluggish 'Dawg'

YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE" IS A TWO-MAN show about the relationship between a pair of Asian-American actors. The play explores the obstacles and moral dilemmas faced by Asian-Americans who want to succeed in mainstream movies and television. It has moments of intensity and insight, but overall it is cumbersome, suffering from too much down-time.

As the play opens, Bradley Yamashita (Young Lee '99) and Vincent Chang (Allen Soong '96) meet at a Hollywood party. Bradley, a young actor who wants to change the way Asians are portrayed in the media, tells the older Vincent that he admires his work and speaks of how much it means to the "community." Bradley also explains that he has sought out Vincent because he feels more comfortable talking to the only other Asian-American in the room.

Vincent, however, expresses little interest in the Asian-American community, and it quickly becomes clear that the two men have very different views. Vincent began his acting career on the "Chop Suey Circuit" performing for live audiences in Chinatown. He has enjoyed a successful career as an actor; he was even nominated for an Academy Award. But he has also faced a great deal of discrimination and has had to compromise his integrity in order to succeed in an industry dominated by whites. His desire to be an actor was so great that he prided himself on "never refusing a role." He was willing to make concessions in order to stay employed; after World War II he even changed his Japanese name to a Chinese name in order to find work.

Bradley is an ambitious and angry young man who does not approve of some of the parts that Vincent has accepted. He refuses to play Asian-American characters that he considers racist caricatures. Bradley ridicules the "Asian-American Actor Awards," a group that presents a lifetime achievement award to Vincent, and mockingly suggests that awards be given for "best actor in the category of Vietnamese killer" and for "best actor with five lines or less."

As the play proceeds, the two men engage in a series of debates, each one defending his way of dealing with a racist Hollywood. But by the final scene, when Bradley and Vincent meet up again at a similar party, they have reversed their initial positions; Bradley has had a nose-job and is playing a lucrative but demeaning role in a big-budget film, while Vincent is about to make an independent documentary about a Japanese family during World War II. As if to emphasize his enlightenment, Gotanda even has Vincent come out in the play's last scene, adding sexual liberation to ethnic pride.

"Yankee Dawg You Die" is the fourth play the Asian-American Association Players have produced. It successfully explores the anger and frustration that even second- and third-generation Americans of Asian descent often feel. Gotanda shows that there is a tremendous amount of pressure on Asian-American actors to conform to the media's stereotypes of Asians and to play only roles that are specifically written for Asian actors.

The play consists of a series of short vignettes, some barely a minute long. Many involve set and costume changes, and as a result the audience is left facing an empty stage entirely too often. The many jumpy scene changes accentuate the fact that the play is too long and too fragmented. This shortcoming is inherent in the script, but a more technologically sophisticated production might have made the scene changes more quick and less obtrusive.

Soong and Lee give good performances, but they can't rescue this play from its own sluggishness. Hopefully, Lee, a talented first-year student, will have a better script to work with in his next Harvard production. "Yankee Dawg You Die" explores an important and interesting subject; however, it often feels more like a lecture than entertainment. It is entertaining as far as lectures go, but you will certainly find yourself checking your watch.